International innovation forum wraps up in Moscow and Dubna

Finding ways of better cooperation between the state, investors and scientists topped the agenda of the international forum 'Innovations. CIS. Future' that wrapped up in Moscow and the Moscow Region town of Dubna last week.

On the table was a whole array of issues which were of paramount importance to each and every participant in the innovation process. Young scientists need money to elaborate and implement their new projects which should be dully assessed by the investors. As for the state, it wants concrete results and places a main focus on funding scientific research. According to Dr. Robert Aymar, former director of European organization for nuclear research, Russia has all necessary brain resources to successfully develop innovation.

Alexander Ruzaev, head of the International Innovation Center for CIS nanotechnology, says, in turn, that despite the fact that Russian authorities have already adopted an array of successful reforms in the innovation sector scientists are yet to be supported by big business. One can clearly see the lack of interaction between the state, the business community and scientists – a problem that Ruzayev says should be resolved by Russia cooperating with the EU countries rather than the United States.

'I think that Russia as part of the CIS and the CIS itself are lagging behind the EU when it comes to innovation management,' Ruzayev says. 'This raises eyebrows given that Europe is closer to Russia than the US both mentally and geographically. With all my respect to the Silicon Valley, I think that the European experience related to innovation management is underestimated in Russia,' Ruzaev concludes.

Vice President of Russia’s Skolkovo Fund Oleg Alekseyev says, for his part, that the fund is actively cooperating both with Russian scientists and their colleagues from the CIS countries.

'Our fund, Alekseyev says, is an international organization which is why we develop collaboration with partners from Belarus, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Armenia. I think that we will use these opportunities step by step,' he concludes.

High on the agenda of the Moscow-Dubna forum was the creation of more mechanisms of interaction between investors. Many, however, said that Russia has already made great progress as far as the foray into innovation market is concerned. Yevgeny Kuznetsov, of the Russian Venture Company, in turn, pointed to an active presence of a host of new players in the market’s main segments.

'Right now, Kuyznetsov says, we should focus on achieving tangible results in other sectors of the Russian economy, because our current achievements are mainly concentrated in the Internet and IT segment.'

Part of the Moscow-Dubna forum was an exhibition which was attended by representatives of high-tech companies from Russia and beyond. The exhibition was preceded by the holding of the Russian Academician Alexei Sisyakyan Prize award ceremony. The prize is called Fantastic Reality – something that participants said reflects the role of innovations in modern-day world.